Evil-looking beast!
Written: Jul 24 '01
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Pros: Appearance, Print quality, paper handling. Cheap!
Cons: Cartridge management. Discontinued.
The Bottom Line: A great printer for a low-volume user who is interested in quality
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| murgan's Full Review: Epson Stylus Photo 750 InkJet Printer |
When I started looking around for a new printer, I wanted something that could do high-quality, low volume work at a reasonable price. Oh, and it had to be black, to match the rest of my system.
So... I did some homework and checked out epinions, where I discovered the Epson 750. The verdicts were good (it was one of the top-rated Epson printers) and so I decided to get one. I was lucky enough to grab one from Epson direct for $150, as they were about to discontinue them (they had previously been $250). What a steal! With it's ominous black visage, I have nicknamed it "Darth Printer"..!
This is my first major purchase in which this site has played a major role, and so far things are shaping up well. I have used it for Black-and-white, color and even greeting cards. Print quality is faultless, and the printer drivers work well under both Windows 98 and Windows 2000, although the spooler has an annoying tendency to crash under Windows 98 once in a while. However, even that is handled well - the printer buffer is preserved, so when I reboot the printer asks if I still want my printouts. If I say "yes" it does its thing and out come my printouts. Righteous!
The printer comes with two cartridges - a small black one and a larger five-color one. These can be purchased locally for about $25 and $35 respectively, but I have sourced them elsewhere for far less (roughly $5 & $10 respectively). You can can also get "compatible" cartridges cheap, but Epson do not recommend it and neither do I. I will never use inkjet refill kits - too messy and too risky.
I have just one gripe about this printer, and that is its cartridge handling. It seems that the system "guesses" when the cartridges need replacing, and you can only replace the cartridges at that time. It appears that you cannot get the cartridge holder to "deploy" into the loading position at any other time.
Not long ago, the printer told me that I needed to replace the black cartridge. The printouts seemed fine to me, so I replaced the "empty" cartridge with itself and carried on happily. This was all well and good until the black cartridge actually did run out, at which point the system still thought that it had a half-full cartridge!
I was able to get around this by printing several dozen sheets of documents (which, of course, came out blank) until the printer's idea of empty caught up with the reality. At this point i replaced the cartridge and they all lived happily ever after... until next time.
On balance, I like this printer. It's not the fastest thing on the planet, but I don't need speed. The quality is more than acceptable. Its one foible - the cartridge management shenanigans and artificial intelligence (artificial stupidity more like...) is something I can live with.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 150
Operating System: Windows and Macintosh
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Epinions.com ID:
murgan
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Member: Stephen Murgan
Location: Louisville, KY, USA
Reviews written: 33
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
Fortysomething Computer Consultant, Born and raised in London, England, now living in Kentucky.
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